Archive for
April 7th, 2010

New Orleans Hornets All-Star point guard Chris Paul will miss the remainder of the season due to a ligament tear in his right middle finger. No surgery is required for the injury. The timetable for his return to basketball activities is approximately seven weeks.

“It has been a very difficult season for me in terms of injuries,” said Paul. “I hate not being out on the court helping my team, but the best thing for me to do is to get completely healthy. I am hopeful to be back playing basketball by June.”

Joel Litvin, NBA President, League and Basketball Operations, issued the following statement regarding the final seconds of the Oklahoma City Thunder at Utah Jazz game last night at EnergySolutions Arena:

“On the final play of last night’s Oklahoma City-Utah game, the officials missed a foul committed by the Jazz’s C.J. Miles on the Thunder’s Kevin Durant during a three-point shot attempt.”

Tuesday night in New York, the Boston Celtics visited the Knicks in Madison Square Garden and left with a loss. The highlights of the evening were the scoring of Danilo Gallinari, the fantastic play of Earl Barron, and the amazing, electric atmosphere in MSG.

Although the Knicks leading scorer was Gallinari, who shot 10-of-15, and hit 10-of-11 free throws for 31 points and five rebounds, the real surprise of the evening came from Barron, a random free agent center the Knicks recently picked up to help them close out the season.

Starting alongside David Lee, Barron was fantastic, shooting 8-of-13 for 17 points and 18 rebounds in over 44 minutes of play. There was no reason to consider taking Barron out. He constantly set screens, moved without the ball, created passing lanes, and helped the team virtually every minute he was on the floor.

Barron is auditioning for a real NBA contract, but yesterday’s play showed he belongs on a roster. He showed a high basketball IQ in almost everything he did.

The Knicks can also be proud of their fans and home arena. The Garden was simply electric. And in the 4th quarter, as it became apparent the Knicks really might win, fans were going bonkers. Fans gave up home long ago that the team would make the playoffs. Yet they continue to pack MSG and provide very loud support.

For the Celtics, no one really stepped up. They were led by Ray Allen’s 17 points (6-of-9), but the shooting guard had no rebounds and just one assist. Kendrick Perkins (6-of-8) had 14 points and eight rebounds. Kevin Garnett was disappointing with 14 points on 12 shots, just four rebounds and four assists. Paul Pierce was underwhelming as well, with 13 points on 10 shots, six rebounds and more turnovers than assists. Rajon Rondo had just six points and six assists.

The bright spots for the Celtics were 54.8% shooting, and the fact that they almost won despite almost everyone on the roster having an off night.

To keep perspective, Boston is mainly focused on staying healthy for the playoffs, while New York will miss the post-season and has a roster is filled with players who will be free agent this summer.

Raptors forward Chris Bosh underwent successful surgery today to repair a displaced nasal fracture. The procedure was performed by Dr. Frank Papay at The Cleveland Clinic. Bosh will remain in the hospital overnight in Cleveland.

Bosh left last night’s game in Cleveland at the 9:52 mark of the first quarter after receiving an inadvertent elbow to the face. A CT scan taken at The Cleveland Clinic revealed both a non-displaced maxilla fracture and a displaced nasal fracture to the right side of his face.

The Raptors play host to Boston tonight at Air Canada Centre (7 p.m., TSN2/FAN 590).

Rockets F Shane Battier is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season for precautionary reasons relating to the sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee which he sustained at New York on March 21.

After consulting with the Rockets medical team, a mutual decision was reached to keep Battier out of action for the team’s remaining five games.

The eighth-year veteran is expected to make a full recovery and be available to commence his usual offseason training program with no limitations beginning in mid-April.

Philadelphia 76ers forward Thaddeus Young will miss the remainder of the 2009-10 season due to a right thumb fracture. Based on the results of x-rays taken last evening, which were evaluated by Dr. Jack McPhilemy of Main Line Health, the injury has not healed sufficiently enough to allow Young to return to game action.

“While Thaddeus did everything asked of him in an attempt to return to action this season, we feel it necessary to take the appropriate precautions to allow this injury to heal properly,” said Sixers President and General Manager Ed Stefanski.

Young appeared in 67 games with 45 starts this season, averaging 13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.21 steals in 32.0 minutes per game. He recorded six double-doubles this season after having just two his first two seasons combined. For his career, Young is shooting 49.5% from the floor.

Phoenix Suns forward Taylor Griffin was re-assigned to the Iowa Energy, the Suns’ NBA D-League affiliate, it was announced today. The re-assignment is the 36th time an NBA player has been assigned to an NBA D-League affiliate during the 2009-10 season and the third for Griffin.

In two previous stints with the Energy this season, Griffin, 6-7, 238-pounds, averaged 9.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 28.9 minutes in 12 games (11 starts). He scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a 94-82 victory over the Dakota Wizards on Dec. 11 in Iowa.

Selected in the second round (48th overall) by the Phoenix Suns in the 2009 NBA Draft, Griffin has appeared in eight games this season for the Suns, scoring 10 points in eight minutes.

A four-year contributor at Oklahoma, Griffin averaged 9.6 points and 5.8 rebounds during his senior campaign for the Sooners while shooting 54 percent from the field. During his college career, he was named to the Big 12 All-Academic Second Team during his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons.